News

National Law Review covers Woolf presentation on Grid of the Future

October 14, 2016 06:05
by
W. Andrew Jack and Aimee L. Ezzell | National Law Review

The National Law Review covered comments by AEE's Senior Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs, Malcolm Woolf, in an article entitled, "Grid of the Future: Opportunities, Challenges, and Solutions in Corporate Energy Procurement." From the article:

AEE Senior Vice President of Policy, Malcolm Woolf, followed with a presentation highlighting policy issues, including:

Advanced energy provides substantial economic benefits. In 2015, advanced energy generated over $200B in revenue in the U.S., which was more than the $190B in revenue generated by pharmaceutical energy.

Advanced energy produces jobs. The advanced energy sector is growing at 5 times the U.S. economy.

Companies are increasingly seeking advanced energy (71% of Fortune 100 companies and 43% of Fortune 500 companies have set climate and/or clean energy targets), but face policy barriers resulting in an inability to access advanced energy. This increased market demand provides a political opportunity to reframe advanced energy– that is, policies need to change in order to allow powerful companies to access the commodity they desire.

Despite the exciting growth among corporations interested in PPAs, it is difficult to actually execute deals. Creative structures are being devised to overcome some obstacles. But all companies should have a selection of clear, straightforward pathways to decide how, when, and where to access advanced energy.

Four major state-level barriers to corporate access to advanced energy are the following: (i) state laws that prohibit third-party off-site PPAs; (ii) renewable energy tariffs that impose a premium over market rates (when PPAs for renewables in some areas are priced lower than utility rates); (iii) state laws that prohibit third-party on-site purchasing of power; and (iv) few states have adopted statutory authority for community renewables projects.